Houston man convicted of intoxication manslaughter

Erika Sanchez

A drunken driver who killed a Pleasanton High School graduate and mother of three was sentenced to 13 years in prison after accepting a plea deal from the district attorney’s office Monday at the Atascosa Justice Center in Jourdanton.

Gregory Barbaro, 35, showed no emotion as he accepted the sentence resulting from a crash that killed Erika Sanchez, 27, on Nov. 15, 2020, in the southbound lanes of IH-37 at mile marker 111 north of SH-97.

“I want to pass my tears on to his mother,” Erika’s mother said. “So he can see his mother when she goes to see him in prison like I did. I want to see those tears coming from her. I’m tired of crying. I’m tired of it. I don’t even hear her name mentioned. She was a rising star that was taken from us too soon.”

According to the documents, the accident happened around 2:45 a.m. after the vehicle Barbaro was driving collided at high speed with another vehicle in which Sanchez was a passenger. She was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

Gregory Barbaro (right) shows no emotion as victim impact statements are read to him after being sentenced to 13 years in prison for causing the death of Erika Sanchez on Nov. 15, 2020. Barbaro was charged with intoxication manslaughter after the vehicle he was driving struck another vehicle at a high rate of speed on IH-37. DANIEL ELIZONDO | PLEASANTON EXPRESS

Barbaro’s Facebook account shows he was a hitting instructor at a baseball academy and worked at Texas Southern University in Houston.

Erika’s mother and older sister both read impact statements to Barbaro, who showed no outward signs of remorse.

“You had 1,324 days of life and freedom that you didn’t deserve,” Erika’s sister said as she read to Barbaro. “You’ve been entitled to everything your whole life. But I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault. Your family didn’t teach you to respect values. Money bought you so much, including what you did. You know that saying, ‘Money talks and bullshit walks’? That’s how I feel. That’s what we have today.”

Barbaro also has ties to San Antonio and the community, according to Sanchez’s family.

The family said Barbaro’s stepmother worked for the NBC affiliate in San Antonio and then Fox, and his father is a cardiac surgeon in San Antonio who has also been crowned El Rey Feo, a scholarship foundation ambassador and San Antonio Fiesta royalty.

The family is not sure why Barbaro was on IH-37 heading south toward Pleasanton. Erika’s sister said Erika lives in Michigan and was in Pleasanton at the time of the crash getting her dental assistant paperwork because she was about to start a job.

She also mentioned that their father passed away in 2022 due to COVID while the family was awaiting trial.

“You took me, my best friend, my sister and my father, my protector, my everything,” she told Barbaro. “Nothing is the same anymore. Hate is so strong and it’s not a nice word. So let’s just say I don’t love you because you hurt my children. They still cry today because you destroyed our entire family. Erika’s three little boys no longer have a mother. They will never know what it’s like to be loved unconditionally the way she loved them.”